MFA Mid-Residence Exhibition
A402 Gallery
California Institute of the Arts
24700 McBean Pkwy, Valencia, CA
January 13 - January 18, 2025

The Ancient Greeks did not have a word for the color blue.  Colors were understood in terms of tone, intensity, and metaphor.¹  In The Odyssey, Homer describes the sea as “wine-dark.”²  The Greeks recognized that the names we designate for colors alone cannot encapsulate the complex ways color speaks to the soul - both in perception, and in recollection.  The word “blue” cannot contain the infinite appearances by which sunlight reflects off of the sea - itself constantly renewing and changing - as the sun moves around it.

Color is not motionless - it is the reaction that occurs when light hits the Earth.  We forget, because it moves so quickly, that light takes a certain amount of time to reach our eyes, so that every perceived color is already a memory.  Our memories themselves are stained with color.  Painting, in retrieving lost color, is an exercise in remembering - restoring the forgotten to redeem what is vital.  

Through multi-textured, atmospheric scenes made with watercolor and ink poured from high viewpoints, and the avoidance of brushes, opting instead for smudging and smearing with hands, Wine-Dark is an exploration of the way in which perception and memory affect color.  A stain or pour is up to chance, whereas a stitch is more deliberate - yet, gravity still dictates the downward direction of a hanging thread. The introduction of sewing highlights the friction between artistic control and happenstance, between memory and artistic intention.

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-Rebecca Poarch​